Lakhdar Brahimi: The Diplomat Who Couldn't Save Syria

Lakhdar Brahimi succeeded Kofi Annan in August 2012 after Annan famously said, in his resignation letter, that without adequate support from the UN Security Council he could not succeed — a direct indictment of Russia's and China's obstruction. Brahimi spent two years trying to convene negotiations. His framework, based on the June 2012 Geneva Communiqué, called for a transitional governing body with 'full executive powers' to be formed by mutual consent of the regime and opposition. The Assad government interpreted 'mutual consent' as a veto on any transition that removed Assad himself. The opposition interpreted it as requiring Assad's departure. The gap was unbridgeable. Geneva II, held in Montreux and Geneva in January-February 2014, produced nothing. Assad's delegation, led by Bashar Jaafari, refused to discuss any transfer of power. Brahimi resigned in May 2014, issuing a statement saying he apologized to the Syrian people 'for our failure to make progress.' By then, 150,000 Syrians were dead.